New figures show fatal truck crash incidences have risen in the last year.

The latest Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport, and Regional Economics (BITRE) report says 220 people were killed in crashes involving heavy vehicles in 2014, up from 186 in 2013.

All classes of heavy vehicles were involved in more road fatalities last year.

Over half of the deaths were in crashes involving articulated trucks, while 39 per cent were killed in crashes involving heavy rigid trucks.

Most of the victims of crashes (74.2 per cent) were drivers and passengers in the vehicles involved, of this group, 73.8 per cent of the victims were in light vehicles (cars and small vans) when the crash occurred.

A further 13.9 per cent of fatalities last year were pedestrians; 8.1 per cent were motorcyclists; and 3.1 per cent were (pedal) cyclists.

The recent increase may be alarming, but BITRE says there is an overall downward trend over the last ten years.

“Over the last decade, annual deaths from crashes involving heavy vehicles (articulated truck, heavy rigid truck or bus) decreased by 20.3 per cent, from 276 in 2005 to 220 in 2014,” the report notes.

“The estimated trend over the decade is a reduction of 3.2 per cent per year.”

As the number of fatal incidents trends downwards over the longer term, the number of serious injuries from crashes involving heavy vehicles is increasing slightly.

The report says this may be related to a greater safety focus, which mitigates the fatal possibilities of some crashes.